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The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus
(Oil on Canvas, 1958-59)
Three
major influences (other than Gala, who was ALWAYS Dali's
chief muse) inspired Dali to create this Masterwork,
which is more than 14 feet tall. The first of these
was the appraching 300th anniversary of the death of
Velazques, who was very important to Dali. The second
was that there was considerable academic debate at the
time regarding the true nationality of Columbus. Some
were asserting that Columbus had been Catalonian rather
than Italian, and Dali seized upon this opportunity
to further glorify his wondrous Catalonia. FInally,
the gallery which commissioned Dali to paint this work,
the Huntington Hartford Gallery, was situated on Columbus
Circle in New York City. The combination of these 3
things was enough to inspire Dali to wondrous heights
of creativity.
The
appointment of Columbus to explore the New World by
King Ferdinand, and Queen Isabella of Spain is depicted
in the upper center of the painting. Just to the right
of that, the flying crosses, and the lances, standards
and polearms held aloft by the figures below are direct
references to the Velazques painting The Surrender at
Breda (or The Lances). In this way, Dali is paying his
direct respects to the 17th Century Spanish Master who
has so influenced him.
The
center of the painting is dominated by a young Columbus
who is leading one of his ships onto the shoreline of
the New World. He holds in his right hand, a standard
on which the visage of Gala is depicted in the pose
of St. Helena, the mother of Constantine. Contantine
was the founder of Constantinople and the Byzantium
Empire, which so heavily influenced the development
of Western Civilization. To the right of Columbus, is
a kneeling figure of a monk, who is actually Dali, and
in the lower right hand corner, the figure whose head
is totally covered by the cloak is representative of
the introspective and private side of his wife Gala.
In
the lower left hand corner, a transluscent bishop holds
his staff aloft amongst a series of crosses and other
objects. This is Saint Narcisso, the Bishop of Gerona,
who had been murdered in his own abbey. There was a
Spanish legend that said whenever any foreign invaders
would advance into the area of St. Narcisso's tomb,
that huge clouds of gadflies would pour forth in order
to drive the foreign invaders away.
This
painting, above all, is a tribute to Dali's Spanish
Catholic heritage. The pose of Gala on the banner held
by Columbus symbolizes the way in which Gala helped
Dali to discover America. She was very much responsible
for many of the antics for which he became famous, and
as a result of her guidance, Dali rose to the great
heights with which we are now familiar.
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